Most people in sales have some level of responsibility for developing new sales prospects for their business. Some very highly compensated business development professionals have 100% of the responsibility for generating new potential customers for their firm.
The problem is it's getting harder and harder to FIND those prospects amidst an overwhelming deluge of what marketing guru Seth Godin refers to as “Interruption Marketing.” You can’t stand alone in an elevator or at the gas pump these days without a video screen leaping to life and trying to “sell” you something.
No problem you say, I’ll just pick up the phone and keep making my next 100 phone dials to strangers. Not so fast, the venerable “Rule of 50” (short form: 100 dials eventually yields 10 prospects) of mathematics that has been applied to the cold calling world for years doesn’t perform nearly that well anymore. The latest stats I’ve seen are that over 90% of unsolicited phone calls end up in voice mail. In other words, business people would like to “TIVO” their business callers and skip past the “commercials” whenever possible.
Contrary to a popular train of thought cold calling is NOT dead it has just changed and updated it’s look. What was previously termed a cold call is now being “warmed up” a bit through some version of networking and research.
There are more formal and informal networking groups and clubs than ever before. Social media is playing an increasingly important role in prospecting as well. From the perspective of the prospect, I might talk to you if someone I know and trust says you are all right and might offer something of enough value to warrant a conversation.
A successful prospecting call is now somewhat like getting into a trendy New York nightclub. If someone doesn’t leave your name on a list at the front door you are going to stand in line forever with the masses hoping to get in.
LinkedIn has become one of the most powerful prospecting tools for “getting your name on the list” and cutting to the front of the metaphoric line. When I say LinkedIn is a powerful prospecting tool I am not referring to the knuckleheads that try to trick you into connecting with them so they can immediately start sending you sales pitches. THAT is a loser tactic and will eventually render LinkedIn no more effective than a traditional cold call.
The best tactic on LinkedIn or any social medium is to leverage the application as a way to build your personal brand and communicate with potential customers in a way that allows you to get to know each other in a “virtually assisted” manner. People do business with other people they like and trust. ALL forms of networking are really methods of building towards that outcome.
I am hopeful the takeaway from this will not be perceived as advice to stop making your prescribed number of dials. My actual advice is to leverage social media, personal networks, pre-call research, and networking groups as a way to make those call more effective. The new Rule of 50 for prospecting should be revised to “spend 50% of your time available for prospecting setting up your dials to be more effective.”
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